Competitive Research Funding Schemes for the Local Self-financing Degree Sector
Sixth Call for Proposals
Background
The investment income1 of HK$3 billion of the Research Endowment Fund provides competitive and non-recurrent research funding for the local self-financing degree sector to develop the research capacity of both the institutions and the faculty members.
Competitive Research Funding Schemes
Three funding schemes, namely Faculty Development Scheme (FDS), Inter-Institutional Development Scheme (IIDS) and Institutional Development Scheme (IDS), were launched in 2013 to provide funding for research activities performed in the local self-financing degree sector. After a comprehensive review in 2018, the Research Grants Council (RGC) decided to expand the scope of the IDS and to branch out the scheme into two grants, i.e. the "Research Infrastructure Grant" and the "Collaborative Research Grant". Ambits of these schemes are elaborated below:
(i) The Faculty Development Scheme (FDS) aims to develop the research capability of individual academics so that they can transfer their research experiences and new knowledge into teaching and learning.
(ii) The Inter-Institutional Development Scheme (IIDS) is to enhance academics' research capability and to keep them abreast of new developments and challenging research topics in relevant fields through the organisation of workshops or short courses on an institutional or joint-institutional basis.
(iii) The Institutional Development Scheme (IDS)
-
- Research Infrastructure Grant aims to build up the research capacity of the local self-financing degree-awarding institutions in their strategic area.
- Collaborative Research Grant aims to encourage collaborative research within / among institutions.
Collaboration, either within the local self-financing degree sector or between the local self-financing degree sector and the University Grant Committee (UGC) sector, is strongly encouraged. Collaboration may be in the form of research projects or sharing of research facilities supported by the three funding schemes.
To provide research training opportunity to undergraduate students, applicants are encouraged to involve undergraduate students in their research projects and apply for the related allowance in the applications.
Operation framework of the three funding schemes can be downloaded here.
Eligibility
Full-time academic staff2 of the below listed institutions3 are eligible for submission of applications to the Sixth Round exercise:
- Caritas Institute of Higher Education
- Centennial College
- Chu Hai College of Higher Education
- Gratia Christian College
- HKCT Institute of Higher Education
- Hong Kong Nang Yan College of Higher
Education
- Hong Kong Shue Yan University
- School of Continuing Education, Hong
Kong Baptist University
- School of Professional Education and
Executive Development, The Hong Kong Polytechnic
University
- Technological and Higher Education
Institute (THEi) of Hong Kong
- The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong
- The Open University of Hong Kong
- Tung Wah College
- Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education
1 The funding available for the competitive research funding for the local self-financing degree sector depends on the investment return of the Research Endowment Fund.
2 Please refer to the application guidelines for the staff eligibility.
3 Institutions are listed in alphabetical order.
Application Procedures
Application should be made in the prescribed form for the corresponding funding scheme and must be submitted through the applicant's affiliated institution. The related application forms and guidelines can be downloaded here from the RGC website at https://www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/rgc/funding_opport/funding_schemes.html.
As a starting point to establish the researcher database in Hong Kong, applicants are required to provide a valid Open Researcher and Contributor ID identifier (ORCID iD) starting from the 2019/20 exercise.
Workshop on Application Procedures
A workshop on Application Procedures for the three funding schemes will be held to introduce the outline of the funding schemes, application guidelines and procedures, and answer enquiries from the potential applicants and institutions, detailed as below:
Date: 16 November 2018 (Friday)
Time: 8:30pm - 10:00pm
Venue: Lecture Theatre WK-N203, 2/F, North Tower,
PolyU West Kowloon Campus,
9 Hoi Ting Road, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon
Workshop RundownDeadline for Application
All applications must be submitted to the UGC Secretariat by 5:00 pm on 1 March 2019 (Friday).
Enquiries
For enquiries regarding the three funding schemes and the application procedures, please approach the Research Coordinators of respective institutions in the first instance. Contact details are as follows:
|
Ms Janice LUK |
Tel: 3702 4361 |
|
Ms Kammy WONG |
Tel: 3762 6145 |
|
Mr LEUNG Ka-yan |
Tel:
2972 7289 Email: kyleung@chuhai.edu.hk |
|
Mr Raymond YEUNG |
Tel: 5804 4140 Email: raymondyeung@gratia.edu.hk |
|
Ms Christine CHAN |
Tel: 2265 6976 Email: christinechan@ctihe.edu.hk |
|
Prof SIN Chow-yiu |
Tel:
3996 1018 Email: cysin@ny.edu.hk |
|
Ms Cecilia YU |
Tel:
2806 5188 Email: klyu@hksyu.edu |
|
Ms Annabelle LEE |
Tel: 3411 3007 |
|
Ms Sarah TANG |
Tel: 3746 0055 |
|
Dr Tracy KWAN |
Tel: 3890 8090 |
|
Miss Ritz HO |
Tel:
3963 5127 Email: ritzho@hsu.edu.hk |
|
Ms Candy LEUNG |
Tel: 2768 6251 |
|
Dr Bernice CHEUK |
Tel: 3190 6686 |
|
Prof Soyoun BAE |
Tel: 3977 9865 |
Staff member of the UGC Secretariat
for enquiries:
Miss Grace Kwok
Acting Senior Research Administrator (4)
Tel: 2844 9976
Email: gkwok@ugc.edu.hk
UGC Secretariat
November 2018